Anti-White Racism In Modern South Africa: Coligny as a Case Study.

The small village of Coligny has hit headlines in South Africa, and given the country’s racially abusive history, racial tensions are never too far from the surface. What I have witnessed, however, is that a nasty strain of anti-White racism has become very commonplace in the country. I will examine this in the isolated context of the Coligny case, and make brief mention of it elsewhere within this article.

What Happened in Coligny?

Hungry “Black” Kids from a nearby township, a settlement rife with unemployment, have been hopping over a farm fence to help themselves to the sunflower seeds and crop from a neighbouring farm. This has been a common occurrence, and two “White” farmers Phillip Schutte and Pieter Doorewaard who own the farm apprehended the children so that they could drop them off at the local police station. From there they are mostly just let off with a warning. Investigative journalist Rian Malan inquired of those who knew the farmers and found that “none of these citizen’s arrests involved violence.”

Fast forward a bit and we have a Black teenager, Matlhomola Mosweu, with a broken neck. Most tragically the teenager has since succumbed to his wounds. But what happened? According to Schutte and Doorwaard they caught two teenagers stealing sunflower seeds. One of the two ran away and escaped, whereas they captured the second and put him in the bakkie. However, as Schutte and Doorwaard were heading towards the police station, and at the moment the vehicle slowed down near a bend, the teenager attempted to jump. The farmers claim that that is why the teenager broke his neck. Malan, however, uncovered a further narrative put forward by a “thus-far nameless black man” who told reporters and police he saw Schutte and Doorewaard beating the black boy to a bloody pulp, after which they threatened to murder him if he did not keep his mouth shut. Who is telling the truth? Perhaps the authorities could decide on the matter?

Sadly, this is where the police have failed the community. So much of the violence that has resulted since Mosweu’s accident could have been avoided if the police just did their job. Firstly, the contradictions in the accounts could have been resolved via investigation from the beginning. Some of the eyewitnesses, such as Mosweu’s companion who had managed to flee, could have been questioned if the police had just attempted to find him. Other eyewitnesses told reporters that they saw a bakkie speeding past in the distance, stopping and returning to the spot where the youth lay dying. The police had failed to talk to these witnesses too. Even worse, however, is that an autopsy hadn’t even been conducted. An autopsy would have easily shown whether or not Mosweu had bruises on his body inflicted by fists and boots, “human violence leaves injuries very different from those caused by a high-speed tumble onto a rough dirt road,” explains Malan.

The trouble was sparked by an unknown Black man, referred to as Tebele, on Sunday April 23. Tebele visited Coligny’s township, and warned the people that trouble was coming. He recommended that the locals close their shops and keep a low profile. Tebele was also said to have visited township schools asking or ordering the headmasters to release all pupils to join a protest targeted at Dooreward and Schutte, and the White community that was thought to be protecting them. Shortly after this was discovered, pastor Pieters of the local Dutch Reformed Church received a call from the police who warned him that a large crowd was on its way into town and that the police could do nothing to deter them. Understandably, a five man police force could do little to stop a massive, angry crowd, and would, under normal circumstances require outside reinforcements to assist. Unfortunately, reinforcements were unavailable given that the other nearby small towns were struggling to control strikes and protests in their own areas.

According to Malan, having viewed videos captured by Whites inhabitants in the village, the protest initially consisted of mostly Black schoolchildren who marched through Coligny’s business district. They broke the odd window and kicked down the doors of the town’s only hotel owned by the employer of the accused. However, when the protesters arrived to the far end of the town they found their path blocked by several White farmers. The protesters then turned around and looted the hotel’s bar instead. When events had quietened down the police asked the farmers to leave given that their presence was “provocative”. The farmers agreed and set up shop at a local old age home. The protesters, realizing the farmers had left returned but this time with adults in their ranks, and over the next 24 hours four houses were burned, and all the bottle stores, along with numerous businesses, in Coligny were looted.

As the hours ticked by Afrikaners from surrounding areas converged on Coligny to assist their brethren. However, the local Afrikaners of Coligny, sensing the possibility of bloodshed, set up roadblocks and politely asked these strangers to return home. Sadly, a few hours later an angry Black mob surrounded the home of a resident by the name of Diana Swart, and torched it to the ground with her dogs inside. Many small trade shops owned by foreigners, mostly Indians and Bangladeshis, were also scorched and looted. At that time, remembers Malan, Black school children were chanting, “The police are thugs and whites are killers”.

Anti-White Racism in Coligny.

South Africa’s ruling parting, the African National Congress (ANC), have capitalized on Matlhomola Mosweu’s death. Mosweu’s funeral was shortly after held in a giant tent outside Coligny’s township with the keynote speaker being Supra Mahumapelo. Mahumapelo is the ANC premier of the North West and an ally of President Jacob Zuma. News24 correspondent, Jeanette Chabalala (read her account here), says that according to Mahumapelo there was “no confusion” about at whose hands Mosweu had died. Malan, commenting on Mahumapelo’s statement, finds that an “odd” remark. He explains that “the magistrate presiding over the bail hearing indicated that aspects of the evidence against the accused were confusing… As previously stated, the police investigation was still in its infancy; key witnesses had yet to be traced, forensic evidence was lacking and the cause of death remained unknown. Beyond that, doubts had emerged about the credibility of the anonymous witness who claimed to have seen Doorewaard and Schutte beating Mosweu; it seems he told one version of that tale to a TV crew, and a significantly different one to police.”

But, aside from anyone coming to an actual verdict, the ANC’s Mahumapelo had no doubt what happened to Mosweu, “Had they caught a white child, I don’t think they would have done it. I have a problem with white superiority in this country. White people continue to control the land and the banks. We are going to call all the white people and tell them they are visitors in this country.” This is an amazing statement and testament to the racially based, anti-White motivates of the ruling party and some of its members. It suggests that some officials within the ANC will look to pin the blame on White people wherever they can, even if they haven’t got all the facts together. After all, how could Mahumapelo know what hasn’t even been concluded in the court? Further, what does Mosweu’s death have to do with who or what owns the banks and the land in the country? Absolutely nothing, and Mosweu’s death has become a very perverted springboard for politics. But let’s go one step further. Though Mahumapelo has the right to protest and show his support for the protests, he still had the opportunity to condemn the violence done in its name. He did not, and instead made an obvious attempt to promote his racist motives. Please spare a thought for not only the racial violence committed against the Whites of Coligny, but the 53 Bangladeshis, Somalis and Ethiopians who lost their livelihoods there too.

Anti-White Racism South Africa: Becoming the Monster.

For anyone who values the acceptance of all people independent of their race this should come across as disgraceful. However, it’s hardly surprising. Mahumapelo belongs to a ruling party that hasn’t shied away from making its anti-White racial motives loud and clear. Recently one of the ANC’s own within the Department of Sport and Recreation, Esethu Hasane, blamed the Western Cape’s drought (the province where most White South Africans live, and an area that has faced rigid water restrictions over the last months) on God’s punishment of White people. It would seem that that Hasane’s theology thinks that God shares in his anti-White racism. Velaphi Khumalo called for the genocide of White South Africans, and said Black South Africans must do to White people what “Hitler did to the Jews.” Khumalo’s motive? A solitary White woman who compared Black beachgoers to monkeys for littering. Black ANC politicians during SONA 2017 abused a White politician from an opposing party calling him a “fucking racist” for questioning President Zuma. Hypocritically, the same ANC bench accused a Black member of the same party of being a “sell out” and a “chocolate.” What they were essentially saying is that this Black man was taking the side of the White interests in South Africa over and above the Blacks in the country. That is patently false. When tens-of-thousands of South Africans, many of whom were White (alongside their fellow Black and Coloured South Africans), marched showing their dissatisfaction with the current President, a man with numerous charges of corruption, the President’s response was to accuse the protesters of racism. This can’t be much else than a testament to the obvious fracture of the ruling party who have made it clear that they stand against racism. In truth, they’re not lying. It’s just the racism they choose to focus on is White on Black racism (which there hasn’t been a shortage of either of recent, sadly).

That isn’t all. Anti-White racism finds itself well entranced within EFF ranks and especially its leader, Julius Malema, who earlier this year stated that he did not want to slaughter White people at least “for now.” This is no less than hate speech as it insinuates that there will come a time in the future in which to pick up pangas and machetes to put to the necks of White men, women and children. Nothing was said from the ruling party condemning Malema’s statement which is hardly a surprise. Malema is up to his neck in controversial, racist statements so this aforementioned example, as evil as it is, is hardly an isolated case, nor is it surprising.

But consider the obvious double standards. Khumalo who called for the genocide of White people in South Africa was subject to little more than an internal investigation. Though the department denounced his claim, he has since returned to work with them. Penny Sparrow, a White woman, who compared Black beachgoers to monkeys for littering was fined a massive R150 000 by the Equality Court, or she would face jail time. Ernst Roets of Afriforum, an organization I have since become a member of, identifies other cases where there are racial double standard in South Africa.

Can we talk about double standards and anti-White racism in South Africa yet? That is my hope. We need to identify that this exists and I need my fellow South Africans, of all races, to be open to having a civil dialogue on these issues. Sadly for now many South Africans, those within the ruling party most noticeably, are slowly looking more and more like the racist monster that was buried more than 20 years ago.

James Bishop

Hi. I am James. I live in South Africa where I am currently studying theology & philosophy, and majoring in psychology (graduate 2018). I graduated in marketing and brand communications majoring in multimedia design (2014). I also obtained TESOL in 2017. Welcome to my blog!